{"id":15851,"date":"2025-11-28T10:40:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T21:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=15851"},"modified":"2025-11-28T10:40:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T21:40:58","slug":"frances-emmanuel-macron-unveils-voluntary-military-service-amid-accelerating-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=15851","title":{"rendered":"France&#8217;s Emmanuel Macron unveils voluntary military service amid &#8216;accelerating threats&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><b>Aims to align with other European nations like Germany, Denmark<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>France aims to boost pool of reservists to 100,000 by 2030<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Armed forces chief&#8217;s comments about Russian aggression stir furore.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the creation of a new voluntary youth military service to begin by mid-2026, which would help France respond to &#8220;accelerating threats&#8221; on the global stage.<\/p>\n<p>The move is part of a broader shift across Europe, where nations who have long enjoyed the decades-long tranquillity of US security guarantees are fretting about President Donald Trump&#8217;s shifting priorities and Russia&#8217;s aggressive posture.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;France cannot remain idle,&#8221; Macron said during a speech at the 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade in Varces, in the French Alps.<\/p>\n<p>He said the plan was &#8220;inspired by practices of our European partners&#8230; at a time when all our European allies advance in response to a threat that weighs on us all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Macron said the voluntary scheme will be open to 18 and 19-year-olds, who would be paid, and would last 10 months. It will cost 2 billion euros (NZ$4.05b), which he called &#8220;a significant and necessary effort&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The scheme envisages engaging 3000 people in 2026, who will only ever serve on French soil, rising to 10,000 by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My ambition for France is to reach 50,000 youth by 2035, depending on evolving threats,&#8221; Macron said.<\/p>\n<p>After the programme, participants could integrate into civilian life, become a reservist, or stay in the armed forces, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Macron&#8217;s announcement brings France in line with nearly a dozen other European nations like Germany and Denmark who have launched similar projects.<\/p>\n<h3>No return of conscription<\/h3>\n<p>Macron said former President Jacques Chirac&#8217;s scrapping of obligatory national service in 1996, was correct, adding that conscription made no sense for France&#8217;s current needs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We cannot return to the time of conscription,&#8221; Macron said. &#8220;This hybrid army model corresponds to the threats and risks ahead, bringing together national service youth, reservists, and the active army.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>France intends to secure 100,000 reservists by 2030, Macron aides said, up from around 47,000 as things stand. Its total military force would then be around 210,000 by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to Macron&#8217;s announcement, his aides pointed to poll data suggesting high support for the armed forces among 18- to 25-year-olds.<\/p>\n<h3>General&#8217;s comments shock the nation<\/h3>\n<p>Macron&#8217;s announcement has been overshadowed by comments from General Fabien Mandon, France&#8217;s armed forces chief, who last week caused an uproar when he said France needed to steel itself for possible future losses against Russian aggression.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What we lack &#8230; is the strength of character to accept suffering in order to protect who we are,&#8221; he said, adding France must &#8220;accept losing its children&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Macron had sought to play down Mandon&#8217;s comments.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We must absolutely, immediately, dispel any confused idea suggesting we are going to send our young people to Ukraine,&#8221; he told RTL radio on Tuesday, alluding to Russia&#8217;s 2022 full-scale invasion of its neighbour.<\/p>\n<p>Cedric Perrin, president of the French Senate&#8217;s foreign affairs, defence and armed Forces committee, defended Mandon.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;His remarks were taken out of context &#8230; but if being a bit blunt is necessary to make the French understand the situation we are in, then he was right to do it,&#8221; Perrin told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>Source: Reuters &amp; RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aims to align with other European nations like Germany, Denmark France aims to boost pool of reservists to 100,000 by 2030 Armed forces chief&#8217;s comments about Russian aggression stir furore. French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the creation of a new voluntary youth military service to begin by mid-2026, which would help France respond to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15853,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15851\/revisions\/15853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}